I flew back to Phoenix last night, have a meeting today, then right back to London Sunday. Blogging will be a bit slow as I run around town, laugh at the condo projects!
Also, Greg Swann and his ilk are attacking the comments - don't feed the trolls, sorry about the mess, and I'll clean it up when I get time.
My impressions from Phoenix after being away for so long:
* The Arizona Republic is the Desperate Homebuilder Advertising Republic now. There's a whole section today "Builder Inventory" listing all the incentives and desperate builder homes that got put back on market once the flippers fled. Too funny!
* Wanna buy a condo? There's thousands and thousands and thousands for sale. It looks like the entire town is on sale based on the number of signs I'm seeing.
* That one laughable project in Tempe by In-and-Out Burger that was trying to sell $950,000 condos is now going to be apartments. Too funny.
* Damn, there are a lot of home furnishing stores in Phoenix. Wonder what they'll become after they shut down next year?
* Still lots of Mexicans. Wonder what they're doing for money these days now that homebuilding is bust.
* The stucco homes look even cheaper and more poorly built than they used to. Stucco don't age well folks
* Phoenix has the ugliest houses in the country. A sea of garage doors.
December 01, 2006
HP blogging from the bowels of the bubble beast today - Phoenix, Arizona
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
15 comments:
This isn’t just about real-estate anymore. This is a perfect storm.
This is about the US economy, retiring baby-boomers, a paltry personal-savings rate, peak-oil, underfunded pension plans, the social security crisis, a loss of confidence among consumers, the death of American manufacturing, and a host of other “storms” combining into a never-before-seen Category 6 economic-nightmare.
This is going to so much more devastating than most people realize.
"Anonymous said...
.....This is going to so much more devastating than most people realize."
Over the long Thanksgiving weekend we went to a relatives house for dinner specifically to see the oldest member of the family, my great uncle (97), who was up from Florida.
Sitting around after dinner, I asked him a lot of questions about the Great Depression. He's a great talker; one of those people who always has a great story, and doesn't stop once he gets started.
The overall view I got from him was that that you didn't know you were in the Depression until YOU lost your job. As long as you had a job, paid your bills, made your house payment, etc., there was no Depression, it was somebody else’s misfortune to be jobless and loose everything. It was a very slow, SEDUCTIVE collapse taking 2-3-4 years until it hit bottom, AND THEN STAYED THERE!
I do not expect this time to be any different. The time frame will be more stretched out, the government safety nets will slow the decline until THEY collapse, and the bailouts will then kick in to just drag it out longer.
It will be slower this time, despite the rapidly falling numbers, but truly much more devastating!
recession coming in 2007!
I lived in Phx for about 10 years and have been in Socal for the past 3.
Everytime I go back, I'm still in shock of the prices that people are demanding for cookie cutter homes. I think the condos and the outskirt communities like Queen Creek / Johnson Ranch will be hit the hardest.
Part of me still does like the Scottsdale community and I do plan on eventually buying, but not now, its ridiculously overpriced.
___________________
Read Mortgage Lender Reviews and Complaints.
Mortgage-Lender-Reviews.com
Truth incarnate, are you Honica in disguise?
Again such blatent racism against jews and blacks. Get a grip. Do you work for al-queda? Are you trying to forment sectarian violence here like in Iraq or what will soon return to lebanon?
If you want to spout hate create your own blog or go to an Aryan nation site to spout your poison and let HP discuss homes and political issues that may have an impact on home prices and the US economy.
Phoenix isn't the ugliest, it is merely a pale imitation of many SoCal prototypes. Snout Houses and tiny lots on dendritic cul de sacs are not Phoenix inventions.
Keith, if you have the opportunity, take a visit to Reno.
It looks pretty bad here with so much inventory and no buyers to be found. How can Sommerset expect to sell home for 400k-900k when the average dual income here is 65k?
Developers are obligated, and plowing forward with building new sub divisions in Reno and Sparks, with no buyers in sight. We go to the models and we are the only one looking...
Reno has so many unfinished downtown condo projects, it's looks pretty scary. Even the Reno Hilton (Grand Sierra Resort) jumped on board and is selling condo-hotels.
My husband and I are just sitting back waiting for the implosion which we think will happen next fall after the Spring fizzle.
Truth incarnate, your comments about jews, mexicans and african-americans. The joke was tasteless.
I still don't understand Keith's hatred for a city he lived in for so long. What bad things happened to you there to hate it so? It may not be your paradise but apparently it is for millions so if you don't like it don't live there or return.
I like Austin but it doesn't mean I wouldn't consider moving back to Phoenix for the right opportunity or if I found a house in Arcadia, North Central or WIllow for the right price. I've lived all over the US, asia and europe, not to mention traveled extensively and I still find Phoenix one of the better cities in the world, even if sterile at times. I've had friends from South America, Germany, Canada visit me there and all loved it.
No matter where you live it is what you make of it. I'm always amazed that people find parts of California or Mississippi desirable, but that is the point, we don't want everyone to want to live in one place. Some like tropics, others mountains, snow, praire, desert. I really love Europe but to live? If I didn't have to work!
I'm headed to Phoenix for two weeks for xmas/new years and to explore how things have changed over the past 8 months. Phoenix is a microcosim of so many places in the world. Every place has neighborhoods, areas you want to live and others...best left for someone else. There are lots of areas if I had to live in in Phoenix I'd rather live elsewhere but I can say the same about SF, SD, LA, Miami, Tampa, Austin, Seattle, Vancouver, Portland, NY etc.
I also believe every place has something positive about it, even Lubbock Texas, parts of which are some of the ugliest neighborhoods I've seen, but then so is El Paso, a much maligned city which has a lot to offer with some great neighborhoods.
What's with all the racist remarks? I read about 7 housing blogs a day and this one is my favorite. I thought this was about housing, not a platform for racist remarks. I am deeply offended by your remarks "truth incarnate" lets show some class instead of your ass.
PS...Do you know what you call caucasians who left the city to separate themselves from "minorities" only to purchase overpriced gingerbread homes in the burbs that are now sinking in value everytime they open the garage door hoping to never make eye contact with their neighbor, and will soon be without jobs?
Caucasians!
The Truth Hurts More Than Fiction.
What's with the racist remarks "truth" I thought this was about housing not a platform for racist rants. Why don't you show some class instead of your ass.
PS...What do you call Caucasians who left the city for the "burbs" to be away from the "minorities" only to buy overpriced gingerbread houses in the burbs that they ATM'd to death and are now losing value everytime the garage door opens, hoping not to make eye contact with thier neighbors and will soon be out of their middle management jobs right after the first of the year?
BASE JUMPERS!
Nope, base jumpers pack 'chutes. They call them bug splat.
THOSE condos by the Inn-n-Out burger are worse than you think - they are cheap wood frame construction, not steel. They feature a lovely view of the APS power plant across the river.
Storehouse is also in the Northeast. There are at least 15 stores in the Washington DC area. I got a newswire at work about Storehouse filing Chapter 7 (I am a financial analyst that deals with bankrupt companies) and I told my wife to expect a ridiculous number of Storehouse signs over by the Target store. We went to Target that Saturday and sure enough, signs galore, including at least 5 people wearing the signs. They might have some items down to 50% by now.
aint no opieville here buddy, mayberry tis long gone!
where is borkafatty! wELL?
Post a Comment